Staffers are blindsided when an elderly Senator (George Coe) begins a Friday night filibuster before a vote on a crucial health care bill, until Donna discovers information that changes their perspective. Meanwhile, Toby is puzzled when the Vice President (Tim Matheson), normally a champion of the oil industry, volunteers to attack it for "price gouging", and Sam is alternately annoyed at and impressed by a feisty GAO intern (Cara DeLizia).

Over on a special live TWWW from SketchFest (taped the Sunday before Trump's inauguration), the guys welcome Brad Whitford ("The bad news is, it's not the guitarist from Aerosmith. It's the other Brad Whitford."), who is of course relentlessly mocked by Josh and cheered by the live audience.

Another one where I totally forgot about some of the (frankly pointless) subplots, specifically the cat statue and Sam getting his ass handed to him by the intern. And the first act of the Stackhouse plot was pretty fucking dumb -- he doesn't want to make political hay out of his grandson's autism? That's the entire plot of the title story. A few words to Josh at the beginning and this whole thing is done.

But oh, man, that second half makes it worth it, as ridiculous and mawkish as it is.posted by Etrigan at 7:04 AM on February 8, 2017

This is one of those episodes that seems so incredibly dated politically - both with the way that they're using the filibuster and the way that the amendments were added to bills.posted by dinty_moore at 9:06 AM on February 8, 2017

the filibuster wasn't like that even when they filmed this, so it makes it even more deliberately manipulative. Still, enjoyed the episode.posted by skewed at 9:30 AM on February 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I really love this episode, not for anything that happens in it, but for being the perfect calm before the storm, just hinting at what's to come. Toby and the ball at the end is perfect.posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 12:00 AM on February 9, 2017

I didn't like that the autism care amendment only started mattering to Bartlet and his team after they found out that Stackhouse's grandson had autism. For crying out loud, try thinking in terms of doing the right thing for the American population for a change.posted by orange swan at 9:29 PM on October 9, 2017